1. Other pages in this release

More detailed commentary on the impacts of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the UK economy and society is available on the following pages:

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2. Main points

  • In the reference period 23 March to 5 April 2020, 27% of the workforce had been furloughed across 6,150 businesses that responded to the Business Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Survey (BICS) and were still trading or had temporarily paused trading.
  • Less than 1% of the workforce had been made redundant across responding businesses that were still trading or had temporarily paused trading during the period 23 March to 5 April 2020.
  • In the reference period 23 March to 5 April 2020, 78% of the workforce had been furloughed in businesses that had temporarily closed or had paused trading.
  • For the workforce of businesses that were continuing to trade, the highest incidences of furloughing were in the accommodation and food service activities sector industry (40%) and construction (32%) industries.
  • Across responding businesses that were still trading or had temporarily paused trading, over 95% of firms that had furloughed anyone were interested in the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).
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3. Introduction

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the measures introduced by the UK government to halt the spread of the contagion have inflicted an unprecedented shock to the UK labour market. Measures introduced by the UK government in response to COVID-19 include social distancing and business closures, as well as counter-measures aimed at supporting businesses and workers, including the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), aimed at workers who have been furloughed (placed on temporary leave by their employers) as a result of COVID-19.

The analysis in this release complements the data in the statistical bulletin Coronavirus and the economic impacts on the UK: 23 April 2020 released on 23 April 2020, to provide a closer picture of the impact that COVID-19, and some of the measures introduced by the UK government in response to the pandemic, are having on the labour market.

This article primarily focuses on proportions of the workforce. It is based on the responses provided by businesses to the second wave of the Business Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Survey (BICS) and is apportioned to derive numbers and proportions of employees in those businesses, using the employment recorded for each reporting unit on the Inter-Departmental Business Register (IDBR). This apportionment of workforce methodology used for these data does not involve grossing to make a UK-wide estimation; therefore, the findings should not be treated as representative of the UK workforce.

Most of the figures presented in this article differ from, and are not comparable to, those in the statistical bulletin Coronavirus and the economic impacts on the UK: 23 April 2020, the main focus of which is businesses. The figures in this article have not applied the apportionment approach described earlier.  

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4. Furloughing rates by trading status for responding businesses that were still trading or have temporarily paused trading

Results from Wave 2 of the Business Impact of Coronavirus (COVID-19) Survey (BICS) show that 27% of the workforce had been furloughed in the reference period 23 March to 5 April 2020 across the 6,150 businesses that had responded and were either continuing to trade or had temporarily paused trading; this corresponds to 14% of the workforce in businesses that continued trading and 78% of the workforce in businesses that had temporarily closed or had paused trading.

In businesses that continued trading, 5% of the workforce was off sick or in self-isolation because of COVID-19, while 76% was working as normal.

More about coronavirus

  • Find the latest on coronavirus (COVID-19) in the UK.
  • All ONS analysis, summarised in our coronavirus roundup.
  • View all coronavirus data.
  • Across all responding businesses that had temporarily paused trading during the period 23 March to 5 April 2020, only 0.5% of the workforce had been made redundant. This provides an indication that, at least at this early stage, long-term negative consequences for employment levels across businesses expecting to re-open remain contained.

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    5. Proportion of furloughed workforce by industry and trading status of responding businesses

    The proportion of the workforce that had been furloughed across responding businesses varied substantially between industries, and it depended on whether the business employing them was still trading or had temporarily ceased its activities.

    Figure 2 shows that the highest proportion of workforce being furloughed was recorded in the accommodation and food service activities industry (80%) and in the art, entertainment and recreation industry (68%).

    This at least partially reflects businesses in these industries reporting in large proportions to have temporarily closed or ceased trading (81% of businesses for the accommodation and food service activities industry and 82% of businesses for the art, entertainment and recreation industry), as the rate of furloughing was higher across businesses facing temporary closures. More detailed figures on business closures can be found in the statistical bulletin Coronavirus and the economic impacts on the UK: 23 April 2020.

    The education and information and communication industries had the lowest proportion of furloughed workforce, both in businesses that continued trading, with 3% and 6% of furloughed staff respectively, and in businesses that had temporarily ceased trading, with 13% and 24% respectively.

    The highest proportion of furloughed staff across businesses that continued trading was 40%, recorded in responding businesses in the accommodation and food service activities industry, followed by the construction industry (32%). The equivalent figure was much higher for the workforce of businesses that had ceased trading, at 87% for the workforce in the accommodation and food service activities industry, followed by the administrative and support service activities industry (86%).

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    6. The rate of furloughing varied depending on the trading status of the business

    To better appreciate how the proportion of the workforce that had been furloughed varied across businesses, this section aggregates responding businesses by categories, defined based on the proportion of their staff that had been furloughed, within the following ranges:

    • 0%
    • 1% to 10%
    • 11% to 25%
    • 26% to 50%
    • 51% to 75%
    • 76% to 90%
    • 91% to 100%

    Figure 3 shows how the rate of furloughing varies depending on the trading status of the business. Among businesses that stopped trading, 54% furloughed more than 90% of their workforce, while only 1% of businesses that continued trading furloughed the same proportion of their workforce.

    Conversely, in 41% of cases no staff were furloughed among businesses that continued trading, while this was only true in 6% of the cases for businesses that had temporarily ceased trading.

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    7. Furloughing rates by expected changes to workforce size of responding businesses

    Of those businesses that were continuing to trade, the survey asks for their expectation of changes in the workforce size in the next two weeks. These are different from reported behaviours, and they need to be treated with particular caution, as they only reflect respondents’ reported expectation to behave in a certain way in the future, with no certainty that such behaviour will materialise. Nonetheless, they provide useful insights on respondents’ attitudes and the factors potentially influencing their decisions. Figure 4 shows the proportion of the workforce who have been furloughed by the workforce size expectation for businesses that responded.

    For businesses that reported the expectation that their workforce size would decrease in the next two weeks, over 20% of employees had already been furloughed. Over 14% of employees had been furloughed by businesses that expect their current workforce to remain the same over the next two weeks. For businesses that expect their workforce size to increase in the next two weeks, less than 1% of the workforce had been furloughed.

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    8. Rate of furloughing by expected and actual turnover experience of businesses

    Of those businesses that were continuing to trade, the survey asked for their experience in the change in turnover over the last two weeks. Figure 5 shows the proportion of the workforce that has been furloughed by turnover experience for businesses that responded.

    Over two-thirds of businesses reported their turnover was outside of the normal range. Of these businesses, 60% reported their turnover was substantially lower than normal in the last two weeks. Around 35% of employees in firms within this group were reported being furloughed. The furloughing rates were lower in firms reporting higher than usual turnover.

    Examining the proportion of the workforce who have been furloughed among businesses that were still trading and experiencing a substantially lower turnover than normal offers further insight into the employment experience.

    Over 25% of responding businesses that were still trading and experienced a substantially lower turnover than normal furloughed between 26% and 50% of their employees Over 30% of firms experiencing substantially lower turnover than normal furloughed at least half of the workforce.

    Of those businesses that were continuing to trade and those that had temporarily ceased trading, the survey asks for the expectation of change in turnover in the next two weeks. Figure 7 shows the proportion of the workforce who had been furloughed split by turnover expectation for businesses that responded.

    For businesses that reported the expectation that their turnover would substantially decrease in the next two weeks, 27% of employees had already been furloughed. Among businesses that expect their current turnover to remain the same over the next two weeks, 17% of employees had been furloughed.This suggests that with a reduced workforce, a number of firms believed they could sustain their operations.

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    9. Responding businesses’ interest in the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

    Of those businesses that were continuing to trade and that had temporarily ceased trading, the survey asks if they are interested in the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS).

    For responding businesses that were still trading or had temporarily paused trading, over 95% of firms that had furloughed anyone were interested in the scheme.

    The rate of interest in the scheme was 99% among business that had furloughed at least one employee and that had temporarily paused trading were interested in the scheme.

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    10. Conclusions

    As the UK adjusts to rapid changes in society and the economy, and experiences unprecedented challenges from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and the UK experiences unprecedented challenges from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has developed a range of new experimental indicators on the UK economy and society, including information related to COVID-19. Indicators are constructed from novel data sources and experimental methods.

    The findings presented in this article, based on the second wave of the Business Impact of COVID-19 Survey (BICS), provide an early indication of the changes to the workforce of responding businesses in relation to COVID-19 and some of the measures introduced by the UK government in response to this pandemic. These include around a quarter of the workforce having been furloughed and less than 1% having been made redundant, across the 6,150 businesses that responded to BICS and were still trading or had temporarily paused trading in the reference period 23 March to 5 April 2020

    As more data become available from future waves of BICS, and from established labour market surveys such as the Labour Force Survey (LFS), new analyses will be published to provide a more comprehensive and updated picture of the impact of COVID-19 on the UK workforce.

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    Manylion cyswllt ar gyfer y Erthygl

    Blessing Chiripanhura, Sonia Carrera, Ellys Monahan
    economic.advice@ons.gov.uk
    Ffôn: +44 (0)1633 582512